Furthermore it's not always obvious that a debt-chaser belongs to a parent bank. You mention Barclaycard: a lot of their chasing is done through a company called "Mercers Debt Collections Ltd". Mercers are almost invisible (they've filed dormant company accounts at Companies House for the past 6 years or so, in spite of the fact that they have been extremely active - they factor debts too so Lord knows how they get away with dormant status); and you won't find them in the phone book either (even though they operate a call-centre); and their address is a Liverpool p.o. box number (in fact they operate from Barclaycard's premises). Performing a google search produces scant evidence of their existence (none of the usual corporate stuff - sponsorships, seminars etc) Anyhow, Mercers are part of the Barclays group.(posted 7876 days ago)One handy tool for discovering whether the company chasing you is in reality a subsidiary of (or otherwise connected with) your lender is via the "Register of Data Controllers" on the Ic's website at http://www.dpr.gov.uk/ Here you can search using address or postcode fields to see what companies come up at the same address. So that Mercers, for instance, are registered as data controllers at the same London address as Barclays' data controllers (in this case the registered office of both companies: they are parent and subsidiary)
The surefire of checking who really owns the company harrassing you is to travel to Companies House and perform a search, although that can be costly with travel etc or otherwise obtaining a search online. But of course that only works if it is a limited company chasing you: the IC's site has EVERY type of businesses registered, whether sole- trader, partnership or limited company. Very useful to know who else operates from or is listed at the same premises as the firm chasing you.
Darius